Iran Panel Reverses Disqualification of Election Candidates

TEHRAN — An Iranian vetting committee on Saturday reversed a decision to disqualify more than 1,500 candidates who had registered to run in parliamentary elections scheduled for Feb. 26. It is unclear how many of the newly approved candidates are considered to be reformists, who are opposed by Iranian hard-liners.

An election official told the state news media that the decisions were reversed after a new review of the candidates’ qualifications and backgrounds. In Iran, all candidates must prove they fully support the Islamic republic and are devout Muslims.

Iran’s beleaguered reformist faction has tried to flood the vetting committee, known as the Guardian Council, with candidates, hoping that enough would slip through for their faction to win a majority in Parliament.

But that remains a stiff challenge, even if many reformists were reinstated on Saturday. During a first round of vetting in December, reformist leaders said that out of the 3,000 candidates they put forth, the Guardian Council, which is made up of Shiite Muslim clerics and jurists, approved only 30.

Elections for Iran’s 290-seat Parliament usually focus on local issues in each election district, but the candidates in Tehran, the capital, are often promoted as national figures. The absence of strong political parties heightens the role of factions and individual candidates, but because the vetting process remains shrouded in secrecy, it is unclear whether any of the newly approved candidates are running for seats in Tehran.

During a period from the late 1990s, the reformists briefly gained control of both the presidency and Parliament. Their efforts to reform the Islamic Republic and its ideology, adapting it to Iran’s changing demographics and social and economic pressures for modernization, were opposed by the judiciary, which closed reformist newspapers and imprisoned leading activists.

“At most we will get 30 seats, if we are lucky 40 and if there is a miracle we might reach 50, but that’s it,” said Farshad Ghorbanpour, a political analyst close to the reformists. “Even that will not be enough to even impeach a minister if we ever wanted to. But of course we must all vote and hope for the best.”

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